Missile loading apparatus



MISSILE LOADING APPARATUS l INVENTORS CARROLL D. PHILLIPS CLIFTON E ORCHARD Y Arron/ver Aug. 5, 1969 c. D. PHILLIPS ErAL 3,459,102

. MISSILE LOADING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 13. 196'? l 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I y L -J--lI-H-II-IL--ll ////////l nvvewrons' CARROLL D. PHILLIPS CLIFTON E ORCHARD ATTORNEY aymmw u- 5 1969 c. D. PHILLIPS crm. 3,459,102

MISSILE LOADING' APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 13. 1967 /NVENTURS CARROLL D. PHILLIPS` cL/FTON F. ORCHARD BY M @fw/:2 @1J-:L2

-- Arron/EY United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 89--1.805 7 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A missile loading apparatus comprising a launch chamber rotatable through an elevation angle and having one end open to receive a missile therein. A guide rail is aixed to ea-ch missile prior to loading, the rail being insertable with the missile into the chamber. A lever secured to the open end of the -chamber and projecting a distance therefrom has its projecting end formed in the shape of a parabolic taper to compensate for vertical deflections. Grasping means coupling the projected end of the lever engages the guide rail when the open end of the chamber is depressed, and translates the engaged guide rail opposite the chamber when the chamber is horizontal. The oppositely disposed missile is then inserted into the chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to missile loading apparatus, and more particularly, to deck level missile loading apparatus for shipboard use and in similar platform environments.

In the prior art, the loading of missiles at deck level on shipboard required elaborate lifting devices. The lifting devices served as platforms for crews to stand on and for access to the various portions of the missile and launcher requiring manual or machine attention. Illustrative of the dimculties found in prior systems was the fact that numerous mechanical and electrical connections necessary between the missile and the launch control apparatus were made only when the missile was in place within the lanucher. Another disadvantage was that elaborate winching and extra power sources took substantial space in the con strained environment of a ships deck.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to devise a missile loading apparatus which increases efficiency by using the power available to the launcher to perform the lifting function.

It is an object of the invention to secure a geometric arrangement of elements to minimize crowding on a ships deck.

It is another object of the invention to reduce time for loading and launching.

It is a still further object to devise a structure using simplified deflection compensation devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above and other objects of this invention are satised in an embodiment comprising a launch chamber rotatable through an elevation angle and having one end open to receive a missile. A separable guide rail is affixed to each missile and is capable of being inserted into the launch chamber. A lever is secured to the open end of the chamber and projects a distance therefrom. The lever has its projecting end parabolically tapered to compensate for vertical deflection. Grasping means coupling the projected end of the lever are used for engaging the guide rail when the open end of the chamber is depressed and for translating the engaged guide rail opposite the chamber when the chamber is horizontal. The oppositely disposed missile may then be inserted into the chamber.

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This structure permits rear end loading and thereby avoids placing loading apparatus in front of the launching chamber. Furthermore, it takes advantage of the launch chamber elevation power drive for performing the lifting function. Also, the use of a guide rail separable from the launch chamber permits a number of preliminary mechanical connections to be made. This reduces and simplifies the time and numbers of connections necessary when the missile is engaged with the launcher.

A iirst launch chamber may be mounted atop a second chamber. In this situation, the grasping means are modified to include a dual length lifting link pivotably mounted at the end of the projecting lever. A rst link length is equal to the vertical distance between the lever and the major axis of the top launch chamber. A second link length is equal to the vertical distance between the lever and the bottom chamber major axis. When the open end of the chambers are depressed, the link that corresponds to the desired chamber may be rotatably positioned. This facilitates attachment to the guide rail. This structural modification maintains the simplicity of the apparatus even though it is required to load missiles into multple chambers.

The grasping means may be further modified to include an eccentric crank device for manually correcting for vertical beam dellection when the guide rail is positioned opposite the corresponding chamber. This permits minor vertical adjustments to be performed prior to actual insertion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. l shows an elevation View of the invention with the launch chamber in the horizontal position.

FIG. 2A shows launcher in elevated position.

FIG. 2B shows link engagements on lever and guide rail.

FIG. 3' is a plan view of a portion of the invention in which the guide rail is shown partially inserted in the launch chamber.

FIG. 4A shows link and guide rail pin connection.

FIG. 4B shows a cross-sectional view of the guide rail and missile coupling.

In FIG. l a number of chambers may be mounted together, preferably one atop the other. However, in the description of the invention reference will most often be made to a single chamber.

-Launch chamber 1 rests in pedestal 8. The cradle is pivotably mounted in the elevation angle direction on pedestal 8 at pivot point 2. Rotation about point 2 through an elevation angle 0 is accomplished by a pair of elevation actuators 9 secured to launch chamber trunnion plate 10` and connected to opposite sides of the chamber. A ball screw 11 is connected at one end to trunnion plate 10 and at the other end is pivotably connected at point 12 to pedestal 8 to increase the elevation angle when rotated by a suitable motor in a rst direction and to decrease the elevation angle when rotated in the opposite direction. The elevating mechanism itself is conventional and does not constitute part of this invention and, therefore, further detail is believed unnecessary.

`One endS of the chamber 1 is open to receive a missile 7 therein. The other end 4 is covered by a cell door 5 pivoted thereto at point 6. The door opens automatically when the missile is launched.

The pedestal 8 is shown mounted on deck 13.

The launcher is adapted to support small-to-medium size missiles in a weight range between 500 to 3000` pounds for surface-to-air target intercept purposes. When a missile has been inserted in a chamber, mechanical connections must exist between the controls within the missile and the external launch controls. This type of missile is guided out of the launcher by a guide rail. One guide rail 17 is shown by dotted lines within chamber 1.

In this invention, however, guide rails 17 are separable from the chamber and may be affixed to each missile at a point 18 along the longitudinal extent of the missile. The guide rail contains a hold back latching mechanism capable of grasping hooks contained on the body of the missile. This facilitates the preliminary mechanical coupling connections to be made (not shown) before the missile is loaded into the launch chamber.

A lever 19 is secured at the open end 3 of the chamber Iby fasteners 20 and 21 and projects a substantial distance behind the open end of the chamber. The lever is contoured parabolically upwards to compensate for static deflection. A lift 25 has a rst link length and a second link length 27 and is pivotably mounted at point 28 at the end 22 of the lever. The dual length lift link is primarily designed to permit the loading of two chambers. The loading of multiple chambers will be described subsequently. The loading of the top chamber using link length 27 is illustrated and described here.

An eccentric crank (not shown) has its pivot at pin 29 and provides a small vertical adjustment to compensate for beam deflections during linear engagement of the guide rail with the launch chamber. Lift link 27 engages the guide rail at point 29 and is secured by a pin therethrough.

Lever 19 may be manually installed and lifted into place. During installation, the launch chamber is elevated approximately 30 to facilitate the placement of the lever.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2A, and 3 missile 7 is located at the rear end of the launch chamber 1. It is in line with the particular chamber to be loaded. Guide rail 17 has been pre-installed on missile 7 with preliminary mechanical connections made. To connect the shorter lift link 27, employed in the multi-tier arrangement when the upper tier is being loaded, the launch chamber is elevated with the electrical controls usually used to adjust the launcher in the proper elevation position for launch purposes. The connection is then made between the link and the guide rail by a suitable pin at point 30.

In FIG. 2A, the rear end 3 is shown depressed at an angle of '30. Lift link 26 is engaged to guide rail 17 at pivot 30. The positioning of the launcher occurs entirely through the elevation actuators 9.

To position the missile for insertion into the chamber, the chamber is depressed to elevation. It may be also stated that the rear end becomes elevated by 30. While the missile is being lifted, it is necessary to provide restraint in the lateral or roll directions. This restraint is provided by the lifting link.

Since the missile loading apparatus was envisioned primarily for shipboard installation, it is expected that motion in the roll direction would result principally from lateral acceleration about the Ships roll center with a site thrust vector of approximately 1.0g vertical missile weight.

After the launcher is fully horizontal, the missile is positioned at within a small tolerance of the proper elevation. This deviation is corrected by use of an eccentric pin 29 of lift link 25. Vertical deflection of the lever 19 is compensated for by the provision of the parabolic upward contour of lever 19 with supplementary correction provided by crank 28. Illustratively, if a parabola is in an upward direction with a maximum displacement of 0.23 inch this would be equivalent to the calculated deflection downward when the beam is subjected to the 1.06 vertical missile load.

Missile insertion may be accomplished either by manual or machine translation of the missile into the launch chamber. During the initial travel, the missile weight may be supported on rollers 50 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2B to ease the insertion force. The lift link is pushed toward the chamberY As the missile enters. it is necessary t0 .4 engage the guide rail. After suitable engagement, the link pin may be removed from the guide rail. The missile can now be fully inserted through the engagement of the chamber supporting the guide rail. A rail latch may be used to lock the rail and chamber together.

For the lifting and insertion of a missile into a lower tier chamber, the lift link 25 may be rotated about pivot 28 such that link 26 may be attached to the guide rail at point 30.

FIG. 2B shows a portion of the link engaging the lever and the guide rail. Each link length 26 and Z7 is bifurcated (see FIG. 4A) to facilitate translation of the non-engaged vertical link along the lever. A roller carriage 50 mounted on the top surface of the lever permits the translation of the entire link and attached guide rail and missile. When the open end 3 of the launch chamber is depressed, a stop 60 placed at the extreme end of the lever prevents the roller carriage from sliding off. Similarly, a latch mechanism may be incorporated to prevent back sliding of the roller carriage along the lever When installed aboard ship in heavy seas.

The conguration of the eccentric crank pivot pin 29 is such as to provide vertical correction when either link is engaged.

In FIG. 3 missile 7 with guide rail 17 affixed thereto is shown in the plan view. Upon the guide rail being fully inserted into launch chamber 1 the electrical connections to the external launch control mechanism and the missile may be accomplished by mechanically connecting conduit to the guide rail at point 51.

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of lift link 27 engaging guide rail 17 with a pin 30 inserted clear through the forks of the lift link 26 and the guide rail 17.

The guide rail and missile coupling is shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4B. The top 65 of guide rail 17 extends beyond the sides for lips which are inserted into corresponding ttings (not shown) in the launcher. A recessed lip 62 is adapted to be slidably inserted into protrusions 61 extending from the missile. A stop 63 also attached to the missile is positioned forward of the protrusions 61 along the missile length towards the nose end. This stop abuts within a correspondingly positioned holder 64 of the guide rail.

For aixing the guide rail to the missile the rail is slid on the front end of the missile opposite the protrusions and pushed back towards the tail end of the missile. The recess 62 must slidably engage protrusions 61 on either side until stop 64 is nestled within holder 64.

In summary, a missile loading has been described in which a launch chamber rotatable in the elevation angle direction has an open end for missile insertion therein. A lever secured at the open end and projecting a distance therefrom has its projection end parabolically contoured to compensate for vertical deection. A guide rail necessary for launching the missile is a'xed to the missile prior to loading. A link lift coupled to the projected lever end engages the aflixed guide rail when the open end of the launch chamber is depressed. The missile is translated opposite the corresponding chamber as the chamber becomes horizontal. The missile is then inserted into the chamber by horizontal translation until the guide rail is locked and secured.

We claim:

1. In a shipboard missile launcher of the type having a deck mount the combination comprising:

a missile launch cell having fore and aft open ends,

the aft end being adapted to receive a missile therein; means for rotatably mounting in elevation angle the launch cell to the deck mount;

a guide rail aixed to each missile along its longitudinal extent and insertable into the cell through the aft end;

a lever mounted on the cell and extending rearwardly so as to project over the aft en cj parallel to the lone gitudinal cell axis, the lever including a stop secured along its extent; carriage means slidably mounted upon the lever and inhibited in a downward motion by the stop when the aft cell end is depressed;

inhibited in a downward motion by the stop when the aft cell is depressed;

a dual length lift link pivotably ailixed to the carriage means, the rst link length being equal to the vertical distance between the lever and the top cell longitudinal axis, the second link length being equal to the vertical distance between the lever and the bottom cell longitudinal axis, the dual length link being selectively rotatable to match the link length to the cell a lift link pivotably ailixed to the carriage means and 5 into which it is desired to load a missile;

extending below the lever; means for engaging the guide rail and attached mismeans for engaging the guide rail and attached missile sile to the preselected link length when the aft end to the extended below portion of the lift link when of the cell becomes depressed and for translating the the aft end of the cell becomes depressed and for 10 engaged guide rail and attached missile to a positranslating the engaged guide rail and attached mistion opposite to the aft cell end and substantially sile to a position opposite to the aft cell end and parallel to the longitudinal cell axis when the cells substantially parallel to the longitudinal cell axis become horizontally placed; and When the cell becomes horizontally Placed; and means for manually translating and inserting the opmeans for manually translating and inserting the oppositely disposed engaged guide rail and attached positely disposed engaged guide rail and attached lmissile into the aft end of the cell. missile into the aft end 0f the Cell- 5. In a shipboard missile launcher according to claim 2. In a shipboard missile launcher according to claim 4, wherein the carriage means include:

1, Wherein the carriage means comPrise means for vertically adjusting the position of the enmeans fOr VertiCally adjusting the Position of the en 20 gaged guide rail and attached missile with respect to gaged guide rail and attached missile With respect to the longitudinal axis of either cell to compensate for the longitudinal axis of the cell to compensate for cantilever deflection. cantilever delieetion 0f the level- 6. In a shipboard missile launcher according to claim 3- ln a shipboard missile launcher of the tyPe having a 4, wherein the projecting portion of the lever has a paradeCk mount the combination cornPrising bolic upward contour to compensate for vertical cantilever a missile launch cell, having fore and aft open ends, the deflections,

aft end being adapted to receive a missile therein; 7. In a shipboard missile launcher of the type having means for rotatably mounting in elevation angle the a deck mount the combination comprising;

launch Cell t0 the deck mount; a missile launch cell having fore and aft open ends,

a guide rail aliiXed to each missile along its longitudinal the aft end being adapted to receive a missile therein; eXtent and insertable into the cell through the att means for rotatably mounting in elevation angle the end; launch cell to the deck mount;

a lever mounted on the cell and extentling rearwardly a guide rail afxed to each missile along its longitudinal s0 as to Project over the aft end Parallel to the extent and insertable into the cell through the aft longitudinal cell axis, the lever including a stop end; secured along its extent, the Projecting Portion ot the a lever mounted on the cell and extending rearwardly lever having a Parabolic contour to compensate for so as to project over the aft end parallel to the lonvertical deflection; ditudinal cell axis, the lever including a stop secured carraige means slidably mounted on the lever and inalong its extent, the projecting portion of the lever hibited in a downward motion by the Stop When the having a parabolic taper to compensate for vertical aft cell end is depressed; cantilever deflections;

a lift link Pivotably alliXed to the carriage nieans and carriage means slidably mounted upon the lever and ineXtending belovv the lever; hibited in a downward motion by the stop when the means for engaging the guide rail and attached missile aft ccll end is depressed;

t0 the extended beloW Portion of the lift link when a lift link pivotably aiixed to the carriage means and the aft end of the cell becomes depressed and for extending below the lever; translating the engaged guide rail and attached mis means for engaging the guide rail and attached missile to a Position opposite the aft cell end and snb sile to the extended below portion of the lift link stantially Parallel to the longitudinal cell axis When when the aft end of the cell becomes depressed and the Cell becomes horizontally Placed; and for translating the engaged guide rail and attached means for manually translating and inserting the op' 50 missile to a position opposite to the aft cell and sub- Positely disposed engaged guide rail and attached stantially parallel to the longitudinal cell axis when missile into the aft end 0f the cellthe cell becomes horizontally placed, the carriage 4. In a shipboard missile launcher of the type having a means include;

deck mount, the combination comprising: means for vertically adjusting the position of the a rst and a second missile launch cell mounted one engaged guide rail and attached missile with atoP the other each having fore and att open ends, respect to the longitudinal axis of the cell to each aft end being adapted to receive a missile compensate for cantilever deflection; and therein; means for manually translating and inserting the opmeans for rotatably mounting in elevation angle the positely disposed engaged guide rail and attached iirst and second launch cells to the deck mount; missile into the aft end of the cell,

a guide rail affixed to each missile along its longitudinal extent and insertable into the cells through their aft References Cited inds; ounted on the top cell and extending rear UNTTED STATES PATENTS a ever m wardly so as to project over the aft cell ends parallel 2,987,953 6/ 1961 Eaton 89--1.805 to the longitudinal cell axes, the lever including a 3,106,132 10/ 1963 Biermann et al. 89-l.815 stop secured along its extent; 3,215,040 11/ 1965 Kossan et al 89l.8l9

carriage means slidably mounted upon the lever and 3,331,279 7/ 1967 Aldnn et al. 89-1.809

SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

